


Green Love

by SilverDrake



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 10:24:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1344028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverDrake/pseuds/SilverDrake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turns out the Hulk knows so much more than rage...</p><p>(tiny ficlet with an alternative version of two moments from the Avengers movie)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Green Love

They watched the Iron Man suit descend back towards New York.  
«Son of a gun,» said Steve Rogers. For all he had seen since his return, a part of himself still had to come to terms with the fact that anybody would carry a primed nuclear bomb in their own hands.  
At his side, the Asgardian frowned. The suit was coming down in a straight line, not a single thruster active, and very fast.  
«It's not slowing down,» he warned.  
He started spinning his hammer, ready to shoot off towards the sky, when a green blur rocketed in front of them, smashed into the side of a building and hit the falling suit in mid air.  
"That thing?" Steve thought, surprised.  
The impact was so violent that the facade of the building was torn for floors in every direction, sending the Hulk down, curled in a ball to protect himself. He bounced and smashed time and time again like a gigantic pinball before coming to a destructive crash landing right in front of the Great Central Station. For all the damage the area had already suffered, the new impact left a clear mark.  
They both rushed towards the green creature. Were they going to lose not one but two more comrades, that day?  
As they came nearer, though, they breathed a sigh of relief. The Hulk was very still, curled on himself, but the slow motions of his gigantic features showed that he was breathing. Little else mattered much, for a second.  
Steve and Thor exchanged a glance. The question for both was clear: what about Stark? And how do you ask a crazed green giant about that?  
Steve walked slowly around the craeture, then came to a stop, raising an eyebrow. Thor shot him a suspicious look, and he answered with the most clueless expression he could muster.  
«You're safe, guys,» he smiled at the Hulk.  
The giant was holding Tony Stark tight to himself. Very tight. Steve was amazed the suit had not been crushed if they had held that way for the whole fall.  
Hearing him, the Hulk freed the armor from his clutch very slowly, and laid it and its wearer on the ground with a care that seemed almost comical for such a brutish being, then took a few paces back, its mouth twitching briefly in a weird way that almost looked like sorrow to Steve. He wondered if the Hulk could even feel such things.  
Then he laid his eyes on the Iron Man suit and he understood. The damage to the suit was astounding: cracks, bumps and scorch marks everywhere. But that was the least. The reactor in its chest was unlit. The heart of Iron Man was not beating.  
Tony's face, though, looked different. The mask had fallen away in the impact, showing a look of serenity. Not the face of a warrior struggling, but a hero at peace with his choices and his fate. Steve bowed his head slightly in respect. Thor gripped his hammer in frustration, unable to do anything else.  
They stood in silence for a few, interminable seconds. Then a furious look erupted on the face of the Hulk. The beast took two steps towards Stark, making the ground tremble, and before any of the others could step in to calm it, it launched a long, bellowing roar at the fallen Avenger.  
As the echo of its scream faded, the monster shrugged and stepped back again, that strange mask on his face again. "We have really lost Stark, then," Steve thought.  
And then his eyes opened. A quick blink, and the reactor light coming back to life.  
«I hope nobody kissed me,» Tony groaned with half a smile.  
Steve turned to the Hulk, and catched a glimpse of it griinning before it... did that hulking monstrosity really blush for an instant?

As the Asgardian disappeared to find a prison fit for the invader Loki, the other Avengers prepared to leave.  
Stark had insisted that Bruce Banner came with him, so the scientist hesitantly got into his car.  
«You know,» the billionaire genius said as he revvedd up the engine, «sure we need the extra muscle now and then, but... you know, we could do something about that personality change when you bulk up. I can find you the very best to work on that, it could even work.»  
Bruce kept looking straight in front of himself.  
«It's not that bad, actually,» he said. «I... I think I'm getting the hang of becoming it for a while, now and then... maybe we are not that different,» he smiled coyly.  
Stark shot an inquisitive look at him. There was something about Banner's face for a second, but it had already faded. He switched gear and drove forward, anticipating all the things they could put their minds to together.


End file.
